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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

STS-118 commander Scott Kelly and educator astronaut Barbara Morgan took a short break from their evening activities tonight to take part in a "crew choice" downlink live from space.

quote:Kelly: We're getting the shuttle configured for the rest of our mission, as you can see here. I think there's just a couple of people, couple of the crew members working behind us. We had a really long day, everything is going well and I'll turn the mike over to Barb for a few comments.

Morgan: Hey, it's great being up here! We've been working real hard but it's a really good fun kind of work, so we're really having a great time. And we're very much looking forward to docking with the international space station tomorrow and joining in with our crew mates like Clay, Oleg and Fyodor.

I guess one thing I wanted to tell you about was when you first get into orbit, um, it takes some getting used to, and all of yesterday, even though I kept my head upright so it looked like a normal ceiling and a normal floor and normal walls, I felt like I was upside down the whole time.

And the other surprise is, when you have something that you just put aside, even if, like, you have Velcro on it, you set it aside and within 30 seconds it is gone and you have no idea where it went to. So we've got a lot of fun challenges up here, and we'll be doing some treasure hunts.

Kelly: And with that we'll have to get back to work. We still have a rendezvous and OMS burn to complete tonight before we go to bed. We'll be getting to bed here in a few hours. So goodnight everybody, thanks.

ASCAN1984

I saw this on NASA TV reply today. Really cool. Is Barbara Morgan the oldest person to make their first spaceflight? I don't think so but i just wanted to be sure

Cliff Lentz

I enjoyed listening to Barbara talk about adjusting to zero gravity. I know watching earlier that she pulled the velcro strap to open a manual and the force drove her headfirst into the overhead port. As they were conducting the tile inspection, the flightdeck was packed with crew members and everything was flying past the camera-manuals, communication wires, jewelry, you name it. Certainly more fun to watch than the flickering tile inspection. Not as important, but entertaining all the same.

Robert Pearlman

quote:Originally posted by ASCAN1984:Is Barbara Morgan the oldest person to make their first spaceflight?

According to USA Today, Morgan, 55, is "the second-oldest American and the oldest woman to make an initial flight into space."

"Only astronaut Karl Henize made his inaugural space flight later in life, in 1985 at age 58."

Mike Melvill made his first flight on SpaceShipOne at age 63. Dennis Tito was 60 when he flew aboard Soyuz TM-32.

Robert Pearlman

Information regarding the first (out of a possible three) of STS-118's educational downlinks:

quote:The crew of the STS-118 space shuttle mission, including Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan, will have a space-to-ground conversation with an audience at the Discovery Center of Idaho. The downlink is scheduled to occur on Aug. 14, 2007, at 12:56 p.m. Mountain time.

The Discovery Center of Idaho is an interactive, hands-on science museum. Located in Boise, the Discovery Center hosts more than 100,000 visitors a year. With more than 160 interactive exhibits, and one-third of the museum dedicated to traveling exhibits, there is always something new and exciting to keep families coming back. The Outreach and Education programs at the Discovery Center reach more than 30,000 students each year in every corner of the geographically diverse state of Idaho. On any given day, and especially during the summer, the Discovery Center hosts camps, classes, clubs and other activities. Discovery Center is also a supporter of By Kids For Kids and other creativity-enhancing programs and organizations, both nationally and local to Idaho.

The downlink event will be broadcast live on NASA TV.

And from the Discovery Center of Idaho:

quote:The Downlink will feature 18 Idaho students asking questions of Barbara Morgan and other crew members on the Space Station over a 20 minute period. This 2-way dialog will take place at the DCI in a private room, but the Q&A will be broadcast live by KTVB (channel 7) around the state, and will be shown on TVís around DCI and in the parking lot where the carnival will take place.

Robert Pearlman

Mission managers decided Sunday to extend the STS-118 mission by three days. The decision came after the successful operation of the new Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS).

The SSPTS reroutes power from the space station to the shuttle during docked operations, allowing the orbiter to conserve materials needed to generate power and spend more time in space.

Endeavour is now scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on August 20 and land August 22. In addition to the extra time at the orbital outpost, managers added a fourth spacewalk that is scheduled to take place August 17.

As a result of the extension, Barbara Morgan will now be able to conduct all three of her planned educational downlinks:

When you were a kid, did you ever think about becoming an astronaut? (Cosette ďCokoĒ Roberts)

What is it like when you first enter space and you are weightless? (Jordan Hill)

What types of exercise equipment and regimen are you using to prevent bone loss? (Brooke Thomas)

If you had an extra day in space, how would you use it? (Andrew Donelick)

What would do you have to do to prepare for a space walk (EVA)? (Ashellina Benson)

How does the crew get clean air in the shuttle? (Madison Escarziga)

How does being a teacher relate with being an astronaut on this mission? (Sarah Blum)

Could you demonstrate how you drink in space? (Falyn Henry)

Can you see the effects of global warming from space? (Frank Walline)

Does the sunís heat cause any problems during an EVA? (Zhu Jun ďZ.J.Ē Mayton)

What is the most challenging part about manipulating the robotic arm? (Elisha Mabey)

What do stars look like from where you are? (Paige Dashiell)

Can you see the earth rotate when you are orbiting? (Gavin Tosten)

What are your responsibilities for this mission? (Hunter Frye)

How did you train to prepare for microgravity? (Zakkary Schirmeister)

What was the hardest thing you had to accomplish to prepare for this mission? (Corey Nielson)

What was the most interesting aspect of going through the astronaut training? (Colton Smith)

How do you prepare to go into space? (Zhu Jun "Z.J." Mayton)

How were you selected to do a spacewalk? (Elisha Mabey)

Robert Pearlman

MarylandSpace

Very good questions from the students!

I'm impressed.

Garry

Robert Pearlman

The next event will involve the headquarters of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Virginia.

The downlink is scheduled to occur on August 16, 2007, at 7:06 a.m. CDT.

CCSSE is a not-for-profit educational organization founded by the families of the astronauts who died during the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. The family members and CCSSE have developed a network of 49 Challenger Learning Centers across the nation, through which 400,000 students and 25,000 teacher experience simulated space missions each year.

How do you feel going into space for the first time? (Caesar Diaz, Challenger Learning Center of Lower Hudson Valley, Suffern, NY)

What is it like going on a spacewalk? (Hector Zepeda, Challenger Learning Center of the Southwest, Tuscon, Arizona)

How and where do you sleep on the space station and do you ever sleep-spacewalk? (James Pugh, Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee, Florida)

How do you stay connected to the space station if there is no gravity in space? (Cameryn Miller, Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis, Missouri)

I am on a swim team for exercise and noticed that you also liked swimming. If an Olympic sized swimming pool could be built in space, would you be able to swim faster on earth or in space, and where would you burn the most calories? (Sarah Nakata, Challenger Learning Center of Brownsburg, Indiana)

How would you compare flying in space to flying on an airplane? (Layne Silverman, Buehler Challenger & Science Center, Paramus, New Jersey)

I am not good at science - what encouraged you to be an astronaut, and did you like science when you were a kid? (Peyton Gladieux, Challenger Learning Center of Lucas County, Ohio)

How do you brush your teeth in space? (Haleigh Pierce, Challenger Learning Center of San Antonio, Texas)

How will the experiments on the ISS help continue and further the mission to Mars? (Kelli Schlais, Challenger Learning Center of Oklahoma City)

Did you have a special teacher or mentor when you were a kid, and who was it and why were they special to you? (Maddy Lewis, Challenger Learning Center of Greater Washington)

What qualities does it take to be an astronaut? (Patrick Carroll, Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky)

Can you see constellations in space? (Emily Koch, Challenger Learning Center of the Southwest, Tucson, Arizona)

Which is more difficult: being in training or actually being in space? (Jordan Leek, Challenger Learning Center of Greater Washington)

What is your favorite experiment you have done about space and why? (Masayuki Nagase, The Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington)

Have you made any mistakes in space? (Peter Sachs, Challenger Learning Center of Maine)

What simulations did you go through during training? (Donovan Simon, Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana)

How do photos of space help you with your research? (Elliot Richardson, Challenger Learning Center of Hawaii)

How do you feel about the decision that Pluto is not a planet anymore? (Rachel Schlais, Challenger Learning Center of Kansas)

Why is Earth the only planet with people? (Noah Raven, Challenger Learning Center of Maine)

Robert Pearlman

Barbara Morgan Talks With Students on Ham Radio

On Thursday, August 16, teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, call sign KD5VNP, spoke via ham radio with students at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School in McCall, Idaho, where she taught English and mathematics before joining NASA's astronaut corps.

NASA provides a transcript of the call:

quote:Q: How did you body feel during the launch?

Morgan: During the launch, your body feels ... First of all, thereís just a lot of shaking going on. You donít feel a lot at first, and then the g forces get more and more, and finally at the very end by the time you get to 3 gs, it gets pretty tough to breathe. So you feel like somebody's kind of standing on your chest.

Q: What is your main duty on the mission?

Morgan: The whole crew, what we're doing is helping to finish, to build the International Space Station. So we have several large pieces of equipment we've put on the station using the robotic arm and using our spacewalkers. And one of my jobs and the one I think I like the best is being the robotic arm operator. We also have about 150 bags worth of stuff, of equipment and everything that the ground ... that our station crew needs, and we've been transferring that back and forth. And that's what we've been really busy with lately.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

Morgan: Well ... itís my free time right now, and guess what I get to do? I get to talk with all of you guys on the ground in McCall, Idaho, from the International Space Station using the ham radio. So this is one of the things we do with our free time, although we don't have very much free time. The other thing I've tried to do is get peeks out the window to take a look at Earth below and the sky above.

Q: Is it hard to eat in microgravity?

Morgan: It's not hard to eat in microgravity, it's pretty easy. In fact, it's pretty fun because you can even play with your food. For example you can ... my crewmate right here has a ... his food is floating in mid-air and he's reaching for it with his tongue. Also he's playing with a can and spinning it around. At first it was hard to get the food to actually go down when you swallowed it. It felt like it stayed up near your throat. That lasted for two or three days, but then that went away.

Q: Is there anything that looks like it's moving on Earth?

Morgan: Last night I was looking out the window and I was looking down at the Indian Ocean, and there were big lightning storms all over the Indian Ocean. And that's what I could see moving, was the lightning flashes. As far as everything else moving, since we are traveling faster than the Earth is spinning, it looks like the clouds are moving underneath us but it's really us moving over the clouds.

Q: How do you sleep in space?

Morgan: You actually sleep very soundly in space. We have kind of a ... we call it a sleep restraint ... it's kind of like a flimsy sleeping bag that we can zip ourselves into clip to the wall somewhere so that you float around and hit your head on the equipment. But you can really sleep just floating in mid-air, too. And I've found that once I shut my eyes I go to sleep right away, and I wake up when the alarm wakes us up about eight hours later.

Q: How do you exercise on the space station?

Morgan: On the space station, we have three different tools for exercising. There's an exercise bicycle, there's a treadmill so that you can run. You strap yourself into it or you strap yourself into the bike. And we also have what we call resistant exercise. It's a lot like lifting weights, only your pulling on cables that are attached to this cannisters that you pull against.

Morgan: We have a lot of protection on board both the shuttle and the station from asteroids, and there are special ... actually they're big metal plates, but they've got kind of a honeycomb structure inside of them, so that if any asteroids hit, the energy dissipates inside and they kind of break up into smaller pieces.

Q: If you had to choose one, would you be an astronaut or a teacher?

Morgan: Do I have to choose one or can I do both, please? Actually, both are excellent jobs and they're both very, very similar. Both you're exploring, your learning, you're discovering and you're sharing. And the only difference really to me is that as an astronaut you do that in space and as a teacher you get to do that with students. And they're both wonderful jobs. I highly recommend both.

Robert Pearlman

NASA has posted a video of the educational downlink with students in Boise, Idaho.